


Ghost town

by Haewkes



Category: Hetalia: Axis Powers
Genre: Ghost Leon, Human AU, M/M, Poltergeist AU, Student Emil
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2015-09-13
Updated: 2015-09-28
Packaged: 2018-04-20 15:35:29
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 5,100
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4792919
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Haewkes/pseuds/Haewkes
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Emil is sick and tired of the constant tapping sounds he keeps hearing at night, and is desperate enough to allow his older brother to cleanse his room in the case of it being a poltergeist. To be fair, it keeps the knocking out. But this ghost is a stubborn one, and has no interest to spent his nights in the dark.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. There's Someone Knocking

When I was younger I used to think I was the only sane person in my family.

For one, there was my brother Lukas, who took care of me for as long as I can remember.  
He had these weird friends from down the block, Arthur en Dmitri, which he could spent hours with talking about ghosts, fairies and other stuff that most people consider fantasy. The real problem was, they didn’t. Arthur would constantly pet the air, referring to it as his pet flying bunny and Dmitri had this fake pair of teeth and seemed to think he was a vampire. They were nutcases, just like Lukas. 

Then there was my Brother’s boyfriend, Matthias.  
Matthias’ voice was, like, when you're turning up the tv to the max, to make a passive agressive statement about not being able to hear it. But... possibly even louder, because you could still hear that idiot's voice over it. His hair defied gravity and his jokes defied the point of being funny.

He was, to bring it nicely, absolutely humiliating.

Matthias’ brother came to visit often, and he and his husband Tino were introduced like uncles to me.  
Though this man had issues too, just like his younger brother. For some reason Bewald wasn’t able to pronounce any vowels, and it took years for me to get to understand him. Tino seemed alright-ish, but his hobbies were kind of strange, as they consisted of scaring the shit out of people with his cute face and terrifying shotgun. Not to mention his obsession with Christmas.

I suppose you get my point, always having thought of myself as the only sane person in my family.

Then, about a week back, things started to take a turn. Every night I go to bed, I was kept awake by a constant tapping on my wall. At first, I kept yelling into the hallway for Matthias to stop trying to be funny. But he never was anywhere to be seen. When I think about it, it was too rhythmic and gentle to be his work anyway. It didn't take longer than a day or three, before even coffee couldn’t help me dealing with the lack of sleep anymore, and a teacher had called home to Lukas, because I had fallen asleep during his class.

“Emil, is there something wrong with you?” Lukas had fired at me as soon as I got home and had slouched down on the couch.

“Not really..” I had shrugged.

“Something troubling you, then?” he pried.

Lukas knew me way too good. He knew exactly how to get something out of me, when I lied and when I was speaking the truth.  
But he didn’t get what was wrong with me this time, and his usually blank gaze flickered with worry. Lukas was a nutcase, but he was still my brother, and I didn’t want to worry him. So I complied.

“A little. Haven’t been able to sleep the past few days. There’s, like, this tapping on the walls and it’s keeping me up all night. I thought it was Matthias at first, but he’s not there when I look for him. And I’m not sure, but last night I started to hear voices and I think I’m getting crazy.”

I looked up to Lukas, who was watching me carefully, eyes blank again, as if he was already bored with my story. He set down his cup of coffee, and plopped down me on the couch next to me.

“It could be a poltergeist, have you considered that already?” he offered dryly.

As if I was the weirdo for thinking it was an annoying leak rather than some... spooky skeletons or something. I sighed and closed my eyes tiredly.

“No..”

“Do you want me to take a look?”

“If you think it helps.. sure I guess.”

So that night, Lukas had called Arthur over, and they had this freaky ritual in my room, when I went to sleep that night, it smelled like rose-scented candles and incense sticks.  
But it seemed calmer, and I fell asleep peacefully.

But around midnight, I was wide awake by the sound of a hard knock on my window. A cold shudder ran over my spine and I locked my gaze on the window.

Another knock.

This wasn’t just the rain, or a tree branch. This was the sound of a person knocking on my window.  
The only problem being, I slept in the attic.

Then suddenly the knocking continued in such a harsh way, I was afraid the glass would break.  
I wasn’t sure what I thought at that moment, but for some reason, instead of being scared, I was too angry for someone breaking my well-earned slumber, and, if they kept on with this, my window too.

I staggered towards the window, and fingered at the lock, opening it with an angy slam. “Would you stop that!” I growled into the night.

“I need to get in!” A low voice answered, panicking. “Why did you shut me out?”

My eyes widened and I almost tripped over a pile of clothes as I stumbled backwards.   
“I’m sorry, what? This is, like, my room, I would like you to stay out please?”

I stared into the darkness, looking for a face to match the voice that appeared to have been so close. Was it really a ghost, like Lukas had said? Maybe he couldn’t come in anymore because of his weird ritual thingy! This was madness. Maybe I was just so sleep deprived that I was starting to hallucinate and freak myself out.

“Are you the one that’s been keeping me awake with the tapping?” I asked hesitatingly, slowly stepping backwards towards the light switch.

“…No?” The voice answered in questioning denial, but obviously lying.  
It was clear though, I didn't have to pick my ears out to know this was, like, a real actual _human_ voice.

I reached the wall, my back pressed against it and my hands drastically looking for the switch. When I flicked it on, the voice made some sort of startled squeak, and I could finally make out the shadowy posture of a person sitting on my windowsill. His transparent colour and his reflecting eyes suddenly made me reconsider the importance of Lukas’ weird ritual earlier today, and a terrified squeak passed through my own lips too.  
The boy on the windowsill seemed to get used to the light easily, and it was almost like he released a relieved breath. He closed his luminous brown eyes, only to open them once again to look at me.  
I was still pressed flush against the primed wall of my rooms, eyes wide, staring at him in shock. Wondering to myself if this was some kind of freakish dream, or I should revalue my life choices… Or at least, revalue what Lukas had tried to convince me all those years.

“Are you okay?” He wondered after a minute of silence from the both of us.

“Are you a ghost?” I shot back. He blinked down at his lucent hands, as if he wondered about it for the first time ever.

“I… think so...”

“Then I’m not okay.”

He grinned. That was not a good sign.

“Are you scared of ghosts?” He asked, crossing his legs as he hovered over the edge of my windowsill, obviously amused by my trembling.

“Hell no.” I lied.

He tilted his head, and tried to leap into my chamber, only to be blocked by some kind of weird force. It seemed like my suspicions were right after all.

“Why haven’t I ever seen you before, if you were in my room tapping on my walls all night long?” I suddenly dared to ask.

He shrugged, and ran his fingers absentmindedly through the thin air that forbid him to come inside.

“I don’t know, you tell me…” he sighed. “But I liked your room a lot, its warm and you’re cute to watch when you’re asleep.”

“E-excuse me?” I spluttered, cheeks tainted red at the very idea of someone watching me sleep. A ghost, nonetheless.

“Your room is warm, and you’re a cute kid.” The ghost-boy said nonchalantly. “Can I come in again?”

“No!” I yelped, breaking away from the wall, and making a small jog over to the window.

“Shouldn’t you be scared of the spell they put over this room or something!?”

He simply shook his head with a blank face, which appeared to be his natural expression. It freaked me out, and reminded me all too much of my older brother.

“It’ll wear off in, like, a few days, and I’ll just come in again.”  
He leaned his chin on top of his palm, and watched me expectantly, as if waiting for me to throw some sort of a hissy fit. Well, he was not getting one.

“Bad ghost, you’re staying out.” I said with a glare.

I pushed against his transparent body, a bit startled as my hand went right through it, and then desperately slammed the window shut into his face.

My knees were trembling with adrenaline as I staggered back to my bed, dropping on to it face first, trying to block out what just happened. Until he started tapping on the window again. Without a stop. I was definitely scared now, and buried myself under my blankets, whimpering like a small pitiful child. Even though the lights were still on, the amount of creepiness was still way beyond my limits.

“Please! Let me in, I can’t be, I don’t want to be.. It’s dark outside!” The boys muffled voice came from behind the glass.

I raised my head and stared right into his pleading gaze. He looked just as scared as me.

“I’ll stop tapping on all your stuff…?” He tried with a mutter, almost inaudible through the window.

I slid out of my bed again cautiously, and walked over to the window again.

“What’s your name?” I asked.

“Li Xia-“ he broke himself off and shook his head as if he didn’t agree with himself. “It’s Leon…”

He kept looking at me daringly. His brows were heavy over his eyes, but he wasn't glaring. His expression was blank again, but his eyes betrayed him. He looked scared.

"Leon." I nodded. "Are you, like, scared of the dark or something?" 

The ghost, Leon, blinked at me, but didn't waver. It was almost like he was thinking about what to say.

"Maybe." 

I scoffed. "That's stupid." 

Leon frowned now, and for a second my heart raced. I forgot I was talking to a ghost. And though there was double glass, and some kind of abacadabra magic flower spell between us, I was positive he could make life horrible if I had angered him. 

But Leon just smirked shook his head and put his hand against the glass. Nothing happened, no destructive curse or thunder or whatever. I breathed.

"You're stupid." Was his retort. 

I could have facepalmed. This guy was a dork. 

"Call me whatever. I still can't let you in. To be honest. I don't want to. But I kind of can't either. My brother and his friend, like, sealed this place off no ghosts allowed." 

Leon looked at me as if he was studying my face. It made me a bit nervous honestly.

"I don't have to be inside. Just open the window. I want to see the light, the little light of your laptop, and your alarmclock and stuff." 

I placed my hand over the lock of the window, and raised my eyebrows.

"Why?" 

Leon shrugged, his face was still blank. But he seemed a bit embarrassed.   
"I don't know. The coloured lights, they make me feel calm. I guess."

He really didn't seem so scary now. And well, since I had apparently already lost my mind. What the hell. I just opened the window. 

I brushed away a bit of salt from the window sill that Arthur had put there, because what was this? Some horror show?

Leon looked almost grateful for a second, and hovered down to sit there. I could see him clearer as he moved into the light. He looked Asian. Which, according to the Taiwanese girl at my school would be a racist thing to say. But, I just couldn't place him. Maybe his father was Scandinavian like mine. I really liked his hair. He had, like this lenght I would like to have, but Lukas would drag me to the barber before I could ever get it like that.

"Thank you." He mumbled, leaning one shoulder against the frame of the window.

I gave a curt nod, wanting to go back to bed and wake up with this being a really messed up dream.

Leon seemed to notice, tilted his head so it bumped against the wood, his eyes lidded as he stared at the LCD screen of my alarmclock.

"You can go to bed now- uh." 

"Oh yeah, thanks." I said sheepishly, regretting my words immediately.  "I mean, yes, I can. Goodnight."

I moved over to my bed, stepping in and moving beneath the covers without taking my eyes of the boy in my window sill.  
He didn't move though. Just kept staring at the red light the alarm gave off. I gave a glance.

3:23 AM

Oh. Fuck. _fuckfuckfuckfuck._ I had class at eight in the morning.

I tried to fall asleep as quickly as humanly possible. But my thoughts kept haunting me more than Leon really was. It must have been nearly an hour later before I finally thought of something, which at that moment seemed really important. 

“Hey, uh, I’m Emil.”

I don't remember if he answered.


	2. I am the one who knocks.

When I woke up the next morning, Leon was nowhere to be found.

The window was still open. It was windy outside and my curtains made little flapping sounds as they flew up every now and then.  
Opening the window hadn't been a dream after all. But how much of the rest was true?

Lukas always told me that ghosts were more active at night, but you could still feel their presence in the room if they stayed there.  
I didn't feel anything. 

No, that's not right. I felt horrible. I felt like someone had rolled over me with a bulldozer and broke all 206 of my bones.  
I made a pitiful sniffling sound because I felt really sorry for myself, and after all, if no one was planning on giving me a bit of credit for having less than 3 hours of sleep for the fourth day on record, I might as well do it myself.

I threw the blanket off and padded over to the window, moving the curtains out of the way as I slammed the window shut.  
There was still salt on the windowsill, but no further sign of ghost in any other way.

I bit my lip and shrugged, turning around to get dressed. I brushed my teeth, and mused at my hair in front of the mirror, telling myself that no matter how cool it looked, my haircut was probably a hundred times easer to keep than Leon's. My sweater was a loose hanging hand me down from Matthias, and there were purple circles under my eyes.  
I wondered for a moment, why, like, if you focus on seeing them, they always seem to stand out more.

I managed to get downstairs, sitting down at the kitchen table after pulling my mug from the dishwasher.  
It had a waddling puffin on it, and it was my favourite one. And I liked drinking from that particular mug so whatever, make fun of me or something.

Anyway, Lukas was making coffee. Matthias was sitting in front of me, studying a box of cereal. He was probably making the puzzles or something. That big doof.  
He looked up at me, brows furrowing in concern. Seriously. I was looking bad enough for Matthias to be concerned.

"Still not sleeping well?" He asked, putting the box down to spoon up some cereal. He took a bite and continued with a mouthful.  
"Lukas told me you had a problem with some ticking noise. Do you want me to take a look at your radiator?"

This was something, I supposed was kind of okay-ish about Matthias. He had a practical mind, unlike Lukas and his magical solutions. He was also always ready to help. Especially his family. Which... he considered me part of.

"It's okay, I guess. I think Lukas fixed it."

As if summoned, Lukas appeared behind me, and poured coffee into my mug. I grabbed for the sugar cubes. I love my brother's coffee, but drinking it black was a bit too risky for me. He sat down in the chair next to me, giving me an interested look as he drank from his own mug. He took his time, glancing at the newspaper, and looking back at me.

"Did you see the ghost?"

I furrowed my brows. I didn't want to tell him what happened. Lukas always gets a little too excited about spiritual things, and I wasn't really jumping at the idea of him exorcizing my room together with his fan club of radical ghostbusters.

"No." I mumbled, quickly taking a sip from my mug and burning my tongue massively. Lukas frowned, but I could see he already knew. He always did.

"Why are you protective of the spirit, Emil?"

"I'm not. There's no spirit."

"Maybe it was a rat or something, there are many different explanations for ticking sounds, babe." Matthias butt in.

"Don't call me that. And perhaps, but in this case it is most definitely a spirit." Lukas said stubbornly.

Matthias shrugged his shoulders, taking another bite of his cereal and smiling lopsidedly at my brother.

"Whatever you say, sweetcheeks."

Lukas threw a sugar cube to his face. Matthias just grinned wider, I knew he loved teasing my brother like this.

"Sorry, sugar."

Lukas' lips curled up in this tiny smile at the pun and he shook his head as he gazed down at his coffee. "Idiot."

Deciding this was the chance to get out of Lukas' interrogation, I quickly gulped down my coffee, taking it over to the dishwasher again to put it back in it's place.

"Get a room, you guys." I mumbled, rolling my eyes like a real rebel teenager.

Matthias winked at me, Lukas left me alone, and I got to put on my boots and coat.  
I opened the door and called: "Bye" Lukas said, "Emil, you've got to eat something." And I said back, "No I don't!" And ran for the bus.

 

School was busy and taught me things I didn't plan on using ever again. But doing heavy math did keep my mind of Leon. The last period, I had art class.  
This however, gave me time to think. Not like the weird kind where I was drawing the guy, or anything. But I was lost in thought enough for one of my classmates to tap me on the shoulder. She startled me, and I shot up.

"Emil, are you okay?" She asked with concern in her voice.

Lily was a sweet girl, but I really didn't feel like weirding her out with ghost talk. I was enough of an outcast already.

"Yeah, I'm fine, eh. Don't worry about it."

Lily didn't seem convinced. "Do you want to borrow a pencil?"

Right I hadn't even taken my stuff out yet.

"Nah, eh, that's fine. I've got one." I told her, zipping open my backpack and getting out my pencil case.  
I had no idea what I was even supposed to draw, but Lily had drawn a small farmhouse. It actually looked really cute.  
I glanced at the whiteboard. The teacher had drawn a thought bubble with the word 'Dream' inside. I started sketching a windowsill.

I turned out to be alone when I got home. I normally loved getting a break from Matthias' loud voice filling the entire house, or Lukas' nagging at me like he was my mother instead of my older brother. But... today I was a little freaked out. I didn't think much was going to happen with the ghost in my bedroom. But if it did, I would rather have...  
Well you know, someone that could help me or something.

I took a pack of bland crackers from the kitchen, and went to my room.  
It smelled like dumplings.  
But not just a little, like, someone had been rubbing dumplings all over my walls.

"The hell..."

I mumbled, moving over to the window to let some air in.  
I mean, it didn't smell bad or anything, but this was weird. Like, your room wasn't supposed to smell like a Chinese restaurant at dinnertime.

As soon as I got in front of the window, the lock started rattling and a gust of wind blew the window open into my face.  
I yelped and stepped back, dropping the pack of crackers onto the floor. They crashed on the ground and spread crumbles everywhere on the carpet. I had to clean that later.

"Wow thanks." I grumbled, trying not to let my voice waver as I pushed the window frame back into its hold.

Of course, I didn't get a reply. But I did feel some kind of presence in the room. Something totally real mind you, not some kind of tv-show; 'Your mother loved you' presence.  
But an actual feeling someone was in the room with me.  
Whatever, you get a bit more open minded when you get face to face with ghost the night before.

My life isn't very complicated whatsoever. I'm a pretty regular teenager.  
I try to do some homework, kill a lot of time doing nothing on my laptop, and watch Netflix while eating from my hidden stash of candy from under my pillow.  
This afternoon I decided on the latter. Since Lukas wasn't home to bug me about schoolwork yet, and I really felt like continuing that documentary I started on earlier.

What? Did you expect me to be a 'Pretty Little Liars' or 'Breaking Bad' fan or something? Of course I am!

But sometimes you must reconsider, as there might be other people in the room that might see this as strange or laughable. Or maybe I wanted to come over as intelligent.  
I don't know. 

I installed myself on the bed with my laptop, and pulled a bag of black liquorice jellybeans from under my mattress.  
I love black liquorice. I know most people on the planet find it absolutely revolting. But I live on the stuff.  
Sadly, Matthias enjoys it as well, hence why it's hidden away.

I huddled up with my legs crossed and my arms folded, squinting my eyes to read the subtitles. When I was younger, Lukas thought I needed reading glasses because of all that squinting. But after testing, my eyes turned out to be just fine. Matthias said I was just very judgy of anything I read.  
I don't think it was true, but sometimes a stupid explanation is better than none at all.  
That's a bit of our family motto, we use it a lot to cope with Lukas' weird theories, or Matthias' outrageous stories, or sometimes even my behaviour, apparently.

The documentary ended, I heard my brother coming home, and soon after Matthias. I could hear their voices, mainly Matthias. He probably was outing his enthusiasm about what Lukas had planned to cook. Protectively, I hid the bag of liquorice back under my pillow. Walking out of the door felt like something heavy had been clinging to my back and had let go as soon as I stepped out of the room.  
Suddenly I felt very tired.

Dinner was silent and awkward.  
Matthias had broken a plate while setting the table with some weird dance routine, and Lukas was mad at him for it.  
The food was good. Lukas was a pretty decent cook, but he did always make an awful mess while doing so.

He and I did the dishes. Matthias was forbidden to touch any plates for the rest of the day. Lucky bastard.

Lukas washed, I dried. It was most effective that way.  
We did have the dishwasher, but it was broken more often than it did work, and was mostly used to store dishes rather than wash them. And so, we usually settled on doing the dishes by hand.

For Lukas it was a great opportunity to start interrogating me again.

"So how was school? You looked awful tired this morning. Did the ritual fail to work?"

I hummed and sighed a bit dismissingly at his questions, and eventually he took the hint.

"Let me get you something after we're done. It may prove to be useful."  He had said.

Lukas' 'useful somethings' were never as good as they sounded. And for a moment I feared he'd make me wear socks filled with garlic again like when I was twelve.  
It turned out to be way more innocent, as he dropped a book on my lap when I sat on the couch watching tv later that evening.

"The Ghost Town Files." I read from the cover, my eyebrows raising. "This isn't really my type of fiction-" I started, but Lukas shook his head.

"It's more than fiction. Open it."

I did, and I took a look at the index. The first chapter was a prologue, but the rest of the book divided in sections like an encyclopaedia.  
Behaviour, appearances, habitat and even training.  
I looked up at Lukas, questioning.

"You don't have to believe everything. But sometimes it's good to have something to hold onto. Sometimes a stupid explanation-"

"Is better than none at all." I finished for him. "I might as well ask Matthias to make something up then."

Lukas gave me a hint of a smile, ruffling my hair. I didn't like that.

"That, you may as well. But this might actually help you more."

 

The book turned out to be way more interesting than I thought. Even if it wasn't real, it was still a fun read.  
However, around ten o'clock I started to nod off, and I figured I'd best try to get some sleep in case of Leon keeping me away tonight again.

I said goodnight to Lukas and Matthias, who had clearly made up and made out again. Yuck.

But then, I opened the door and gasped.

My liquorice jellybeans were sprawled all over the floor.

"Oh no..." I whispered. Then growled angrily.

This was my liquorice and everyone had to keep their hands off.

"Oh no way. I am not doing this! If I wanted someone to raid my food and make a mess of my room I would have adopted a puppy or something! Show yourself, you asshole!"

Everything kept quiet, and for a minute I thought I had gone crazy again. I stalked towards the window and stepped right on my pack of crackers. _Shit._ A wave of cold air spread over my back. The professor in Lukas' book wrote that a cold presence of a spirit meant that of a negative, or sad one. Maybe Leon wanted to show remorse.

I turned around and saw one of the jellybeans twisting in mad circles on the carpet.  
I swallowed, this was freaky.

"Leon?" I tried again, but once again, got no answer.

I reached out to pick up the tolling jellybean, and felt a pressure on my hand. I pulled back quickly with a yelp, but I kept feeling a hold around my wrist. I nearly started panicking, but suddenly I heard his voice.

"I wanted to clean it up. I didn't mean to make a mess." I could hear in whispers.

I read this too, sad spirits didn't come over as clearly as their raging or friendly counterparts.

"It's okay." I whispered back, breathing heavily. "Are you alright? This is you, isn't it? Leon?"

It was silent for a bit longer. Then, suddenly the whisper again. "I am the one who knocks."

I blinked, didn't understand why he would be so cryptic. But then suddenly, I realised and let out a nervous chuckle. "Was that a breaking bad reference?"

Leon solidified in front of me, his legs crossed as he sat on the ground. He released my wrist and grinned slightly.

"Yes. I know you watch it, it's like open sometimes on your netflix. And, you use those Walter White memes sometimes."

I sat down, feeling adventurous, and interested.

"You're pretty young then, if you know about those... that."

Leon's head tilted, staring me down blankly.

"Do I look old to you?"

I flushed. "No... I just thought, most ghosts are old, right?"

Leon shrugged, "I have been a ghost for, like, a few months."

"Ghosts can't tell time." I argued, biting my lip as I realised I had read that in the book.

Leon's expression didn't change much. He was clearly not impressed.

"I can read calendars." He explained.

I nodded, and kept silent.

"I wanted to try your candy, but I couldn't eat it, then the bag, like, it fell down. And I couldn't pick it back up."

His eyes were so shiny and golden, and I couldn't even find it in me to get mad at him again.

"It's alright." I told him, "I can clean it up later."

Suddenly I realised something, and I crossed my arms over my chest. "How did you pass through that spell my brother and his friend put on here?"

Leon studied my face carefully, licked his lips and shrugged.  
"It wasn't a very strong charm, plus, you like, want me here."

I blushed as I realised it was true. Something in me had wanted to see the ghost-boy again.  
"Fair enough." I mumbled.

Leon moved util he was hovering over on his stomach.  
"Why?" He asked, all casually. "Why do you want me here?"

I bit my lip, my cheeks still red as I thought of an answer.

"I... I just think you're interesting."

Leon's golden eyes shone as he smiled at me. A raw piece of emotion which seemed to be the only way for him to show any emotion. I wondered if it was a ghost thing.  
The book said that the spirit mostly kept in the emotion they had died with. But Leon's mood seemed to change in a human fashion. I wondered what that meant.  
My thoughts stopped traveling as Leon was still smiling at me, and I felt my heartbeat speed up nervously.

"Yeah," the ghost said. "Same."

 


End file.
